( via / via )

Star Axis. (via mefi)

“ ‘They—we—were betrayed. In our souls we have never been sure by whom. When we feel cheated we are ready to kill; and maybe we feel cheated all the time.’ ” —Gene Wolfe, “Seven American Nights,” in: Best Science Fiction Stories (1980)

Latin Mass.

when wild things are given names
they join the rote sestina
with parallel amens
& never again siesta

they join the rote sestina
a plethora of lush tisanes
& never again siesta
nor in the woods leave stains

a plethora of lush tisanes
when wild things are given names
nor in the woods leave stains
with parallel amens

(2024)

"For 1/28, the one-year anniversary of World War III, Rachel’s editor asks her to write a piece on 'internet humor at the end of the world'."

( via / via )

Omnipresence.

"Within this temporal body composed of a hundred bones and nine holes there resides a spirit which, for lack of an adequate name, I think of as windblown."

Matsuo Basho
The Knapsack Journal, 1687 via @dapowell.bsky.social

Godzilla vs Destoroyah poster.

"too many villains in this story"

blaze barricades · the blunt trauma
of a day hurled · in your face like slurry
but the car's calming · hum takes over
   blur sharpens to shape

of a day hurled · in your face like slurry
detours & deranged · riot of newsreels
   blur sharpens to shape
   & you comprehend the curve

detours & deranged · riot of newsreels
blaze barricades · the blunt trauma
   & you comprehend the curve
but the car's calming · hum takes over

"...almost no-one owned any Shakespeare before the eighteenth century."

( via / via )

Rumble in the jungle.

"Rain Forests were called Jungles. And Wetlands were called Swamps. #wheniwasyourage" --@neiltyson

"...thinking about Xuanji Tu, a Chinese poem written & embroidered in the 4th century by Su Hui ..."

with the key in my pocket
i walk where no house is found
all hands are raised against me
in this graveyard i was born

i walk where no house is found
though houses once stood many
in this graveyard i was born
i will die in this graveyard

though houses once stood many
with the key in my pocket
i will die in this graveyard
all hands are raised against me

"Had we started taking action in the 1970s - when the threat became clear - we could have easily stopped the crisis by now." (via @paisleyrekdal)

( via / via )

Under.

"The survivors

We settled here, scarcely believing our fortune
no more to scull the seas. The island was safe but
there were many deaths: driven by the darkness
men killed their kin; others drowned in shallow water

before they could reach the sea. The island was safe but
there was no earth to cultivate, nowhere to bury those men
killed by their kin. Bodies float in shallow water.
Corpses were left to rot, covered in rocks to hinder beasts:

there was no earth to hold them. Where could we hide the dead
when our sons were buried alive on the barren rock?
They were left to die, smothered in stones to keep them still;
the winter was their warder. Snow blew over the bones

of the firstborn buried alive on the highest rock.
The ice on those cairns was as good as a key in a lock:
the winter, their warder. Wind blew between the stones
and if sometimes it sounded like a child crying to be free

the ice on each cairn was as good as a key in a lock.
And so we settled, scarcely believing our fortune,
although it might sound as if we were crying to be free,
crying for a death to deliver us from darkness."

--Nancy Campbell

[Pixel Viens] .

"You do not see her yet. For the moment, you see only her traces." --Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

Milton's Eve. (via @kukukadoo)